'Elect' the Jan Lok Pal

One of the biggest objections to the Jan LokPal movement is the lack of a democratic process to appoint a Jan lokPal.  The American process of appointing a Supreme Court Justice may provide a possible solution.

Here’s a possible process:

Step 1: 

Elect the Chief Justice of India using the same process used to elect the President of India – MLAs, MLC, RS MPs and LS MPs elect the Chief Justice through an open ballot. 

§  This election should NOT come under purview of anti-defection law. 

§  Minimum pre-qualifications (of candidates) will entail experience, educational background, etc. 

§  CJI must have a finite term – 4 yrs.

Pros:

§  Open process will allow media and Indians in general to examine historic decisions taken by various candidates. 

§  Candidates will be weeded out based on pre-qualification criteria.

Cons:

§  Process will remain susceptible to manipulation. 

§  President Pratibha Patil was drenched in controversy but election went through thanks to regional loyalties of Shiv Sena. 

§  However, with election of CJI, this manipulation will be extremely difficult as media and civil society will hound any tainted/questionable candidates

§  Also, candidates’ records will be public, acting as a further deterrent to manipulation

Step 2: 

A CJI at the time of retirement will be once again ratified by the same process and appointed as the Lok Pal. 

Pros:

§  A CJI like Homi Kapadia would make an ideal Lok Pal

Cons:

§  What if a CJI like Balkrishnan gets through the process?  The double filters (Step 1 and 2) should prevent this.

§  Secondly, what happens if a Balkrishnan gets through and is NOT ratified in Step 2.  How do we fill the Lok Pal vacancy? 

-    One solution: Make the new CJI the Lok Pal and appoint a new CJI in his/her place.

Thoughts anyone?